Myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart is interrupted causing some heart cells to die. This is most commonly due to occlusion of a coronary artery following the rupture of a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. The resulting ischemia and oxygen shortage, if left untreated for a sufficient period of time, can cause damage and or death of heart muscle tissue. Accordingly, in clinical situations of myocardial infarction, the immediate goal is to restore blood flow to the patient as quickly as possible. If blood flow is restored within a suitable time period, tissue damage can be averted. However, a significant delay in restoring blood flow leads to a second condition known as ischemia-reperfusion injury that can develop gradually after an ischemic event and may cause irreversible damage to tissues. Clinical examples include cardiac contractile dysfunction, arrhythmias and irreversible myocyte damage (heart cell death) following myocardial infarction. Accordingly, several methods for the cardioprotection after myocardial infarction have been investigated. For example, current therapies aimed at improving contractile function often involve the use of inotropic agents (e.g., calcium, dopamine, epinephrine, ephedrine, phenylephrine, dobutamine). However inotropic drugs have been reportedly associated with increases in intracellular calcium concentration and heart rate, which may be potentially harmful, especially in hearts with impaired energy balance. Thus the limited successful for cardioprotection is limited by a relatively small number of therapeutic targets. The present invention fulfills this need by providing a new therapeutic target for the cardioprotection after myocardial infarction.